Bouquet
by S c h e m a t i c
Summary: AU. Ino works at her father's shop and a girl buys a bouquet of daffodils on a regular basis. This time, she asks who it's for. [Ino/Sakura]


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

* * *

 **BOUQUET**

Ino leans against the front counter with her elbows, with one hand cupping her cheek. She watches the pink-haired girl peruse the flower shop, her eyebrows furrowed. Without fail, every Saturday, the girl with pink hair would come into her father's shop, buy a bright yellow bouquet of daffodils, ask for it gift wrapped with a light blue bow around the clear cellophane, pay for it, smile and leave.

Every Saturday, at exactly 11:00am.

Without fail.

Honestly, she's been curious ever since the girl came back the second time. Sure they have regular customers, but they only come maybe once a year, twice if they're lucky. Her and her father have kept tabs on those "yearly regular" customers, usually writing their name in their store calendar out back. But this? Even her father admits this is a bit of an anomaly.

She just takes her time, eying the girl off. She's always wondered if the girl's hair is natural, or if she gets it dyed. Well, she knows colours of hair like that _can't_ be natural, she's not _stupid_ , it's just… it doesn't look dyed. It looks natural. She doesn't think she's seen the girl with any other colour other than pink, and for the three months she's seen this girl, she doesn't know if she's ever seen her pink colour fading. It always looks absolutely _perfect_ from whatever angle Ino decides to look at her in.

She has a large forehead, she's noticed, but it's not anything that makes her look ugly. On the contrary, it makes her unique to look at. Her hair usually frames her face so it distracts from her forehead, but Ino thinks to herself that it'd be nice if the girl's hair was tied up. She wants to see the full effect of those sea foam green eyes, she wants to see the girl's plump cheeks, she wants to see the girl _smile_.

Most of all, she just wants to have a conversation with the girl.

She smiles pleasantly when the girl comes up to her with the same bouquet of flowers. Instead of just passively telling the girl how much it is (and the girl should really know by now, since she's come here so often), she also asks, "What's your name?"

The girl startles as Ino rings up the daffodils and turns to get the cellophane and ribbon. When Ino happens to glance over at her, she's got a suspicious look on her face, as if Ino's going to use her name for nefarious deeds. She scoffs inwardly. What deeds? She sells _flowers_. What is she going to do, name a flower after her?

"Why?"

Ino shrugs, passing over the bouquet, her eyes looking around the girl to see if she has any other customers. Nope, just the two of them. Excellent. "Just asking. You're here pretty regularly."

The girl deflates, so Ino takes that as a good sign and hands the girl her daffodils, taking the money from her hand and placing it in the cash register. She looks almost relieved that she's not using her name for something. "It's Sakura." She hesitates. "Haruno Sakura."

Ino smiles. "Like the cherry blossom?"

Sakura rolls her eyes at her, scowling. "Yes, like the cherry blossom. Everyone always asks that."

Ino shrugs, still smiling. "Cherry blossoms are beautiful, so I think you should be honoured you're named after them."

The other girl sighs. "At least there's that." She turns to walk away, but Ino blurts out the next thing that comes to her mind, as if she's a little kid again that can't keep her words in.

"Who are the flowers for? You buy them every Saturday and I know the meaning of them! So—"

The girl turns back to her, blushing and scowling all at once. Honestly, it's not that intimidating. Ino just wants to squish her cheeks together or admire the colour. "That's none of your business!" she screeches then flies to the door, opening it and dashing out.

The door swings slowly shut from behind her.

"That could've gone better, Ino," Ino's father notes in disapproval from behind her. Squeaking and flailing, she turns around to glare at her father. He just looks back at her, unimpressed. "You don't dig around in other people's lives. They're not your gossip rags."

"I know," Ino mutters. But… she was honestly curious. She just wants to know everything about the girl. No matter how insignificant.

* * *

It comes as a surprise to Ino when Sakura comes back again. She thought she'd scared off the other girl from their shop for good, since the girl had missed the previous Saturday. She watches as the girl shifts around, looking at different flowers instead of the daffodils. Ino's eyebrows knit themselves together, watching her trek around the store. Why deviate, unless her little crush was returned? She feels a tightening in her belly at the thought and she shakes her head.

No, surely…? She thought she'd stopped feeling that way about girls after… but her customer…?

She snaps out of her daze when the girl thrusts the daffodils at her. Well, looks like she hadn't deviated, but why was she looking at other flowers then? She hadn't looked at other flowers before...

She gives the change back to the girl without saying anything and gets ready to turn around, when the bouquet is thrust back at her. Bewildered and wondering if she'd done something wrong with those flowers, she takes the daffodils hesitantly, one eyebrow slightly raised.

The girl blushes. "I—I want you to go out with me!"

What. "Are you—ah—why—"

Oh. _Now_ she understands the significance of the light blue bow, now. Those are Ino's eyes. She blushes, looking down at the bouquet. Maybe the girl didn't know the significance of those flowers, after all? Or maybe she did. But why did she buy a bouquet every Saturday?

She's flustered. They're both flustered. Ino giggles nervously a little bit.

"I—I've noticed you for a while, Ino!" She raises her eyebrows, wondering how the girl had found out her name, but pleased about it nonetheless. "I keep buying a bouquet every Saturday because I know it's your slowest day, specifically around eleven, so I… I buy a bouquet," she blushes, staring at Ino with her beautiful, pretty eyes. "I thought every time that I'd give you them and ask you out, but I never did. I just spent my time glancing at you and…"

Ino continues to stare at the nervous, babbling pink haired girl. Honestly, she's so sweet and cute. She may not know anything about Sakura, but she wouldn't mind getting to know her. So, she places the bouquet on the desk, comes out from behind the cash register and stands before the other girl.

She wraps Sakura up in a hug, resting her chin on the other girl's shoulder, feeling slightly warm. "Of course I'll go out with you. I'd like to get to know you better."

The other girl puts her arms around her as well, hugging her back just as tightly.

And that's how Ino's father finds out.


End file.
